IRLF 


£ 


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GIFT  OF 


The 
Simplicity  of  Creation 


or 


The  Solar  System 
Analyzed 


Cause  of  the  Glacial  Period  Explained 


PRICE  10  CENTS 


By    Alva    L.     Reynolds 

LONG  BEACH,  CAL. 


The  Simplicity  §f  Creation 

or  the  Solar  System  Analyzed. 


Is  it  true  that  we  live  in  a  Universe  where  destruction  is  the 
only  object  of  Creation? 

Yes ;  if  it  were  not  so,  then  all  matter  would  gravitate  to  a 
common  center,  and  all  would  be  darkness,  silence,  and  death. 
New  worlds  could  not  be  formed,  and  all  Nature  would  come 
to  a  standstill. 

No  other  plan  would  be  possible,  wrhereby  a  perfect-working, 
ever-changing,  never-ending  Universe  could  be  maintained,  ex- 
cept by  the  process  of  successive  destruction  and  re-creation. 

There  are  only  two  primary  forces  in  Nature;  One  is  the 
law  of  expansion  by  heat,  and  the  other  is  the  law  of  contraction 
by  cold ;  One  is  commonly  known  as  the  law  of  gravitation, 
while  the  other  may  be  properly  called  the  force  of  radiation : 
One  is  ever  doing  what  the  other  is  just  as  vigorously  undoing, 
and  there  is  not  a  motion  of  mattter  in  the  whole  Universe, 
that  cannot  be  traced  to  these  two  primary  causes. 

By  reasoning  from  cause  to  erlect  with  these  two  primary 
laws  as  a  basis  of  calculation,  we  can  easily  unravel  the  so-called 
mysteries  of  the  origin  and  destinies  of  Comets,  Worlds,  and 
Systems. 

Modern  intelligence  of  civilized  man,  calls  for  a  satisfactory 
explanation  of  the  so-called  mysteries  of  Creation  that  have 
led  up  to  the  present  stage  of  Man's  dominion  over  this  little 
World  on  which  we  live  for  a  brief  moment  of  Infinite  Time. 

It  is  not  enough  to  know  that  Saturn  has  strange  rings  and 
many  Moons ;  We  want  to  know  the  reason  why. 

It  is  not  enough  to  know  that  Jupiter  is  half-way  between 
Saturn  and  the  Sun,  and  has  double  the  speed  of  Saturn  and  half 
as  many  Moons ;  but  we  want  to  know  why  it  is  so. 

We  are  not  satisfied  to  know  that  about  half  way  between 
the  Planet  Jupiter  and  the  Sun  where  we  should  find  a  well- 
developed  Planet  with  double  the  speed  of  Jupiter,  there  is 
nothing  but  the  scattered  fragments  of  a  broken  up  Planet 
along  the  path,  or  orbit,  known  as  "The  Zone  of  the  Outer 
Asteroids." 

Let  us  know  the  cause  of  the  chaotic  condition  of  this  one- 
time Planet,  and  the  story  of  its  destruction. 

Why  has   Mars,  The   Earth,  Venus  and   Mercury,  all  passed 


361992 


over  tHe  "same  track  without  meeting  a  similar  fate? 

Where  is  the  Planet  that  should  be  found  half  way  between 
Mercury  and  the  Sun,  according  to  the  same  ratio  of  distances 
and  speed  that  have  characterized  the  locations  of  all  the  other 
Planets  of  the  Solar  System? 

The  mysterious  Sun-spots  which  we  are  just  beginning  to 
study  and  understand,  can  tell  the  story  if  we  will  only  put  the 
question  squarely,  and  consider  the  answer  from  the  stand- 
point of  reason  and  common  sense.  Familiarize  yourself  with 
the  "Chart  of  the  Solar  System,"  and  you  will  be  able  to  under- 
stand more  clearly,  the  chain  of  testimony  that  connects  the 
Comet  with  these  calamities  of  Creation. 

It  will  be  remembered  that  Halley's  Comet  that  made  the 
transit  of  the  Sun  on  May  18th,  1910,  passed  within  fourteen 
million  miles  of  the  Earth,  and  the  Comet  of  1858  came  within 
seven  million  miles  of  the  Earth.  Can  you  imagine  what  would 
be  the  result  if  a  Comet  should  cross  the  Earth's  orbit  seven 
million  miles  closer  than  the  Comet  of  1858? 

Remote  as  these  possibilities  may  seem,  the  possibility  still 
exists  and  the  very  existence  of  the  Outer  Asteroids  is  a  rational 
and  undeniable  sign,  that  just  such  a  thing  occurred,  to  at  least 
one  of  the  children  of  the  Sun. 

It  is  also  obvious  that  the  closer  a  Planet  is  to  the  Sun,  the 
greater  the  danger  of  its  being  engaged  in  a  sanguinary  conflict 
with  a  Comet  over  the  right  of  way. 

Mercury  is  now  in  a  position  where  he  cannot  hold  out  much 
longer  against  the  bombardments  that  are  constantly  being  di- 
rected at  him  from  Comets  that  are  making  their  periodical 
flights  around  the  Sun. 

The  Sun-spots  are  merely  fragments  of  the  last  great  calamity 
of  this  nature,  and  are  being  consumed  constantly  by  the  great 
central  furnace  of  the  Solar  System. 

It  stands  to  reason,  that  a  collision  between  a  Comet  and  a 
Planet,  would  kick  up  considerable  dust,  and  the  destruction  of 
both  would  be  the  inevitable  result. 

A  total  eclipse  of  the  Sun  at  midday  only  lasting  a  few 
minutes,  will  cause  the  temperature  to  fall  several  degrees,  and 
if  it  could  last  a  week,  the  Earth  would  be  enveloped  in  ice. 
It  therefore  follows  that  Sun-spots  or  Asteroids  passing  between 
the  Earth  and  the  Sun,  though  too  small  to  be  seen,  would  have 
their  effect  on  the  weather  conditions  here  on  Mother  Earth. 

If  it  were  not  for  these  Asteroids  that  are  constantly  passing- 
over  the  Sun's  disk,  every  day  would  be  just  the  same  as  every 
other  day,  with  the  exceptions  of  the  gradual  changes  of  the 
seasons.  When  there  are  no  Asteroids  to  shield  us  from  the 
Sun's  fierce  rays,  then  we  suffer  from  heat  on  that  portion  of 
the  Earth  that  is  so  exposed. 

When  one  of  these  Asteroids  plunges  into  the  Sun  and  adds 
itself  as  fuel  to  the  furnace,  then  we  feel  the  effects  in  electrical 
disturbances  and  great  heat  to  that  part  of  the  Earth  that  is 


exposed  to  the  effects  of  the  combustion,  as  a  natural  con- 
sequence. 

This  clearing  up  and  consuming  of  these  Asteroids  or  so- 
called  Sun-spots,  furnishes  the  only  logical  explanation,  and 
gives  the  only  common-sense  reason  why  the  Earth  has  been 
gradually  emerging  from  the  effects  of  a  "Glacial  Period"  that 
is  conceded  to  have  taken  place  since  the  history  of  Life  on 
the  Earth  began.  It  furnishes  the  reason  why  the  Glaciers  of 
the  North,  are  gradually  breaking  up  and  receding,  ami -the 
climate  of  the  Earth  becoming  warmer. 

At  the  time  in  the  Earth's  history,  when  the  Planet  that 
should  be  half-way  between  Mercury  and  the  Sun  was  broken 
up  and  reduced  to  fragments  and  dust,  would  be  the  logical  time 
for  the  Glacial  Period  to  have  occurred.  The  dust  and  debris 
that  would  have  been  distributed  around  the  Sun's  equator, 
(which  is  plainly  visible  in  the  case  of  the  rings  of  Saturn,) 
would  shield  enough  of  the  Sun's  heat  from  the  Earth,  to  have 
produced  the  Glacial  Period. 

The  breaking  up  of  Mercury  would  produce  the  same  effect, 
and  snow  would  be  falling  in  the  Tropics  in  less  than  forty-eight 
hours ;  The  Oceans  would  rapidly  evaporate  and  fall  in  moun- 
tainous proportions  at  the  Poles,  forming  irregular  pressures 
on  the  Earth's  crust,  which  would  result  in  throwing  up  of 
new  ranges  of  mountains  many  times  higher  than  our  mountains 
of  to-day,  since  the  crust  of  the  Earth  is  many  times  thicker 
than  it  was  when  the  last  Glacial  Period  occurred. 

A  careful  study  of  the  "Chart  of  the  Solar  System"  as  far 
out  as  Saturn,  with  a  knowledge  of  the  coming  and  going  of 
Comets,  will  show  that  the  destruction  of  a  Planet  may  occur 
at  any  time,  and  the  rings  of  Saturn  is  an  indication  that  just 
such  a  thing  has  happened  to  some  of  his  moons. 

The  existence  of  the  Outer  Asteroids  in  the  position  where 
a  Planet  should  be,  is  still  further  testimony  in  support  of  this 
theory,  while  evidence  given  by  the  Sun-spots  completes  the 
chain,  if  we  are  capable  of  reasoning  from  cause  to  effect. 

Let  us  analyze  carefully  the  Solar  System  in  all  its  important 
details,  and  we  shall  find  the  Infinite  Principle  on  which  Crea- 
tion is  planned. 

If  the  Sun  is  the  great  central  engine  around  which  all 
the  Planets  within  reach  of  its  influence  have  their  orbits,  then 
it  follows  that  every  direction  from  the  Sun  is  up,  and  every 
direction  towards  the  Sun  is  down,  so;  far  as  the  forces  of 
gravitation  and  radiation  are  concerned,  within  reach  of  the 
Sun's  control. 

There  are  three  distinct  forms  of  matter,  viz.,  solid,  liquid, 
and  gaseous.  Matter  in  its  liquid  or  melted  form,  repels  the 
gases  of  matter,  and  attracts  the  solids. 

The  Sun,  being  an  immense  mass  of  liquid  or  melted  matter 
one  million  three  hundred  thousand  times  greater  in  bulk  than 
the  Earth,  is  kept  in  this  condition  by  the  great  pressure  resting 


> 
upon    it,    since    it    must    support   the   weight   of   all   the    matte^*i^2 

surrounding  it  for  a  radius  known  to  exceed  three  billion  miles. 

All  that  goes  up  must  come  down,  and  if  matter  was  not 
returning  to  the  Sun  in  the  form  of  solids  in  the  same  ratio 
that  it  is  being  radiated  away  in  gases,  its  energy  would  soon 
be  exhausted  and  Nature  would  come  to  a  standstill. 

As  the  steam  rises  from  the  Oceans  in  the  form  of  colorless 
vapor,  to  be  recondensed  and  fall  back  to  Earth  in  the  form 
of  rain,  so  must  the  gases  of  matter  that  are  being  evaporated 
and  radiated  away  by  the  Sun's  heat,  be  recondensed  from  Atoms 
to  Cosmic  dust,  from  Dust  to  Crystals,  and  from  Crystals  to 
Planets,  and  be  returned  as  solids  to  the  Sun,  to.be  again  re- 
juvenated and  sent  out  en  the  same  endless  mission,  since  there 
is  no  process  in  Nature,  whereby  a  single  atom  of  matter  can  be 
destroyed :  Its  form  can,  must,  and  will  be  destroyed,  but  the 
substance  will  remain,  eternal. 

It  seems  to  be  a  first  "law  of  Nature,"  that  every  atom  of 
matter  in  the  Universe  has  its  center  of  gravity,  its  affinity 
for  other  atoms  and  its  power  of  adhesion  and  organization 
into  great  powers  and  systems. 

Beginning  with  the  planet  Neptune,  which  is  the  farthest 
Planet  from  the  Sun  of  which  we  have  any  definite  knowledge, 
(although  there  is  no  doubt  another  Planet  forming  beyond 
it,)  we  find  it  to  be  two  billion  eight  hundred  million  miles 
distant  from  the  Sun :  Its  speed  along  its  orbit  or  path,  is  the 
slowest  of  all  the  Planets,  being  only  two  hundred  and  fifty 
thousand  miles  per  day.  Little  is  known  of  the  nature  of 
Neptune,  except  that  it  seems  to  be  an  immense  cloud  of  loose 
stones  and  dust  in  a  chaotic  state  of  friction,  showing  little  or 
no  heat.  But  let  us  not  waste  time  considering  such  an  unim- 
portant body  so  far  away. 

As  we  come  in  towards  the  Sun,  about  half  way  from  Nep- 
tune's orbit  we  find  the.  Planet,  Uranus. 

Supposing  that  Uranus  has  been  four  hundred  million  years 
in  falling  from  the  position  where  Neptune  now  is  the  distance 
from  the  Sun  has  been  reduced  one  half,  the  battle  between 
radiation  and  gravitation  has  been  doubled,  and  we  find  that  its 
speed  along  its  orbit  has  been  doubled  as  a  natural  result.  At 
the  same  time  it  has  become  more  dense  in  form,  has  increased 
its  center  of  gravity,  collected  more  material  and  has  developed 
considerable  heat.  Within  the  next  four  hundred  million  years, 
it  will  have  reached  the  same  position  where  Saturn  now  is,  and 
will  have  developed  the  same  ratio  of  conditions  in  speed,  friction 
pressure  and  heat. 

Saturn  is  the  first  Planet  shown  in  the  Chart,  and  has  for  a 
long  time  been  considered  one  of  the  most  extraordinary  Planets 
in  the^  Solar  System  on  account  of  its  strange  rings.  This 
phenomena,  however,  need  not  be  taken  seriously,  as  the  rings 
are  no  doubt,  another  case  of  close-in  Asteroids,  resulting  from 
the  disintegration  of  some  of  his  many  moons. 


Saturn  will  not  suffer  from  any  Glacial  Period  as  a  result 
of  his  rings,  because  he  gets  no  warmth  from  the  Sun,  and  only 
shines  from  his  own  light,  and  is  warmed  from  the  heat  of  his 
own  nucleus. 

The  rings  will  eventually  all  be  united  with  the  main  nucleus, 
and  he  will  continue  to  grind  on  through  countless  ages,  short- 
ening his  orbit,  increasing  his  speed,  finally  melting  down  by 
the  heat  caused  by  friction  and  pressure,  becoming  a  small 
Sun  himself,  warming  his  remaining  Moons  into  Life,  and  form- 
ing a  small  System  of  his  own  within  the  great  Solar  System 
of  which  he  is  a  part. 

Leaving  Saturn  to  his  fate,  and  coming  in  again  just  about 
half-way  to  the  Sun,  we  find  the  great  red  Planet,  Jupiter,  with 
his  five  moons,  and  others  in  process  of  formation.  Jupiter 
gets  no  light  from  the  Sun  but  is  himself  a  great  ball  of  fire, 
radiating  his  own  light  to  his  own  System  of  Moons,  probably 
warming  them  into  Life,  and  holding  dominion  over  a  Kingdom 
that  he  thinks  is  all  his  own. 

In  countless  ages  to  come,  however,  his  power  will  begin  to 
wane,  as  he  will  have  reached  the  border  of  the  greater  power, 
the  Sun,  and  the  material  from  which  his  Moons  have  been  here- 
tofore formed,  will  be  driven  off  into  the  outer  regions  of 
darkness  by  the  greater  power  of  radiation  from  the  Sun. 
One  by  one,  his  moons  will  be  called  in  and  disintegrated  and 
consumed  to  satisfy  his  hungry  maw,  and  to  keep  his  waning 
fires  burning. 

Right  here  on  the  Moons  of  Jupiter,  AVC  find  the  first  conditions 
in  the  Solar  System,  where  the  existence  of  animal  life  would 
be  possible. 

If  we  study  the  conditions  of  our  own  remaining  Moon,  we 
find  that  its  surface  is  covered  with  mountains,  seabeds,  craters, 
valleys,  and  plains,  and  presents  much  the  same  surface  condi- 
tions as  our  Earth.  Its  waters  have  long  since  been  dried  up, 
its  atmosphere  destroyed,  and  the  conditions  that  would  render 
Life  possible  on  our  Moon,  have  long  since  passed  away. 

Since  like  causes  produce  like  effects,  it  follows  that  if  our 
Moon  ever  did  support  Life,  it  must  have  been  at  a  time  when 
the  Earth  was  in  a  molten  condition,  as  Jupiter  seems  to  be 
at  the  present  time. 

A  little  idea  of  the  vastness  of  Jupiter's  System  of  Moons  can 
be  had,  when  we  realize  that  his  fifth  moon,  represented  in  the 
outer  ring  on  Jupiter's  chart,  is  one  hundred  and  twenty  million 
miles  distant  from  Jupiter  or  nearly  thirty  million  miles  farther 
than  the  Earth  is  from  the  Sun. 

To  the  inhabitants  of  Jupiter's  moons,  if  there  be  any,  our 
Sun  would  look  like  a  large  twinkling  Star  in  the  darkened  sky. 

Leaving  Jupiter  in  his  glory,  and  coming  in  again  about  half 
way  towards  the  Sun,  where  we  would  naturally  expect  to  find 
another  Planet  in  full  blazing  glory  according  to  the  regular 
ratio  of  distances,  we  are  startled  to  find  that  in  this  position 


in  the  heavens,  something  terrible  has  happened.  Instead  of 
the  witness  we  were  looking  for,  we  find  the  fragments  of  a 
broken-up  Planet  scattered  along  the  path  known  as  "The  Zone 
of  the  Outer  Asteroids." 

Some  of  these  Asteroids  have  been  located,  measured,  and 
named,  and  their  speed  calculated.  The  largest  one  is  known 
to  be  about  four  hundred  miles  in  diameter,  and  is  probably 
one  of  the  Moons  that  once  accompanied  this  one-time  Planet 
in  its  gyrations  around  the  Sun. 

The  path  over  which  these  Asteroids  are  distributed,  is  said 
to  be  over  five  million  miles  wide,  and  is,  no  doubt,  represented 
by  many  of  our  small  un-named,  and  un-measured  Stars.  When 
one  of  these  fragments  strays  far  enough  from  its  regular  orbit 
to  come  within  the  Earth's  attraction,  then  we  witness  what  is 
called  a  Meteor,  as  it  plunges  into  the  Earth's  atmosphere  and 
is  dissolved  by  friction. 

Shall  we  ask  what  caused  this  extraordinary  condition  in  this 
part  of  Creation,  and  then  leave  the  question  unanswered?  No. 
Cowardice  would  be  the  only  excuse  for  the  evasion  of  the  ans- 
wer:  Back  of  every  effect  there  is  a  cause,  and  if  we  cannot 
state  exactly  what  did  cause  it,  we  know  beyond  question,  what 
could  have  caused  it. 

We  know  that  if  a  Comet,,  dropping  in  towards  the  Sun, 
and  crossing  the  orbit  of  a  Planet  at  right  angles,  would  find  the 
Planet  directly  in  its  path,  it  would  cause  just  such  a  condition ; 
The  molten  fragments  of  both  Planet  and  Comet  would  be 
scattered  for  millions  of  miles  in  all  directions.  The  inner 
fragments  (the  ones  nearest  the  Sun),  on  account  of  their 
shorter  orbits  and  greater  speed,  would  gain  on  the  outer  ones, 
and  a  "Zone  ofAsteroids"  would  be  the  natural  result.  Search 
Nature  for  any  other  logical  reason  for  the  existence  of  Aste- 
roids, and  you  cannot  find  one. 

When  we  have  finished  the  analysis  of  our  Planetary  system, 
we  will  put  the  Comet  on  the  witness  stand  for  cross-examina- 
tion, and  see  if  we  can  find  out  what  his  business  really  is. 

Leaving  the  Asteroids  and  coming  in  again  about  half  way 
to  the  Sun,  we  find  the  well  developed  and  much  studied 
Planet,  Mars.  Let  us  give  careful  consideration  of  this  Planet, 
as  it  may  be  the  next  world  on  which  we  shall  live. 

Mars  is  the  smallest  Planet  in  the  Solar  System,  being  about 
one-half  the  diameter  of  the  Earth.  Being  about  forty-eight 
million  miles  farther  away  from  the  Sun  than  the  Earth  is, 
he  only  receives  about  one-fifth  the  sunlight.  He  has  only 
two  moons  to  his  credit,  and  one  of  them  is  traveling  very 
rapidly,  close  to  his  surface. 

This  small  Moon  may  disintegrate  at  any  time  from  her  own 
centrifugal  motion  and  the  loss  of  her  own  center  of  gravity, 
as  a  result  of  her  close  proximity  to  the  larger  body.  This  would 
cause  rings  to  appear  similar  to  the  rings  of  Saturn,  and  the 
material  in  her  to  be  ground  to  fragments  and  added  to  the 


stratification  that  will  form  the  outer  crust  of  Mars.  In  fact, 
it  would  be  nothing  strange  for  rings  to  appear  on  any  Planet 
at  any  time,  as  the  result  of  the  disintegration  of  some  of  their 
inner  Moons. 

The  chances  of  there  being  any  life  on  Mars  at  the  present 
time,  are  very  remote,  and  the  chances  are,  that  it  would  not 
be  a  very  nice  world  on  which  to  live,  for  at  least,  the  next 
million  years.  He  is  just  beginning  to  collect  his  waters  and 
his  atmosphere,  and  he  must  continue  to  collect  them  as  his 
crust  thickens  and  his  surface  becomes  cooler. 

You  have  seen  the  water  collect  on  the  inside  of  a  window- 
pane  when  the  temperature  on  the  outside  was  colder,  and  you 
have  seen  it  collect  on  the  outside  of  a  pitcher  containing  ice ; 
so  must  the  water  continue  to  collect  on  a  cooling  Planet,  until 
it  reaches  a  nearness  to  the  Sun  where  the  heat  can  begin  to 
evaporate  it,  and  drive  it  back  in  the  form  of  vapor,  into  the 
regions  of  the  next  incoming  Planet. 

In  the  next  four  hundred  million  years,  or  the  time  it  would 
take  for  Mars  to  reach  the  position  where  the  Earth  now  is, 
he  must  pass  through  many  changes.  He  will  no  doubt,  become 
entirely  submerged  and  enveloped  in  water,  before  his  crust 
becomes  thick  enough  to  support  mountains,  and  the  prophetic 
voice  of  Immutable  Law  gives  the  command,  "Let  the  Waters 
be  Gathered  Together,  and  Let  the  Dry  Land  Appear."  Then, 
and  not  till  then,  will  he  begin  to  support  Life  to  any  great  ex- 
tent, except  that  form  which  lives  in  the  water,  or  flies  in  the 
air. 

The  Earth. 

Every  Geological  authority  we  have  to-day,  will  concede  that 
the  Earth  has  been  in  a  molten  condition  from  center  to  cir- 
cumference at  some  time  in  its  history.  They  will  also  concede 
that  it  has  been  almost,  if  not  entirely,  submerged  in  water  at 
some  time  since  it  formed  a  crust,  as  seashells  and  other  evi- 
dences have  been  found  on  the  tops  of  the  highest  mountains. 

That  we  have  just  emerged  from  a  Glacial  Period,  when  the 
entire  Earth  was  enveloped  in  snow  and  ice,  will  not  be  ques- 
tioned by  even  the  ordinary  scholar.  The  probabilities  are, 
however,  that  it  has  passed  through  several  of  these  Glacial 
epochs,  since  it  occupied  the  position  where  Mars  now  is. 

There  is  no  logical  way  of  accounting  for  the  gradual  disap- 
pearance of  Moons  from  Planets  in  accordance  with  their  near- 
ness to  the  Sun,  except  by  their  precipitation  to  the  Planet.  In 
this  case,  they  would  not  fall  in  a  body,  but  would  follow  the 
law  of  other  falling  bodies,  and  would  continue  to  shorten  their 
orbits  and  increase  their  speed,  until  their  own  center  of  gravity 
would  be  overcome  by  their  close  proximity  to  the  larger  attrac- 
tion, and  they  would  go  to  pieces  from  their  own  velocity  and 
centrifugal  motion :  The  fragments  coming  in  contact  with  a 
heavy  atmosphere,  (as  would  be  the  case  with  any  Planet  occu- 
pying a  position  anywhere  between  Mars  and  the  Earth,)  would 


be  ground  to  smaller  fragments  and  dust,  and  would  fall,  grad- 
ually, over  the  entire  surface  of  the  Planet.  This  would  be  the 
most  logical  way  of  explaining  the  stratified  condition  of  the 
outer  portion  of  the  Earth's  crust,  in  those  locations  where  it 
has  not  been  broken  by  mountain  upheavals,  since  so  much  of 
this  stratification  shows  no  signs  of  ever  having  been  melted : 
.The  heavier  substances  would  naturally  fall  first,  leaving  the 
dust  and  lighter  substances  to  fall  last,  and  form  the  soil. 

The  falling  of  these  Moons  must  have  occurred  before  the 
mountain  upheaval,  as  during  this  process  no  Glacial  Period 
could  occur,  on  account  of  the  surface  of  the  Earth  being  un- 
affected by  the  Sun's  heat. 

During  the  time  of,  and  after  the  falling  of  the  last  Moons, 
we  would  naturally  look  for  thousands  of  years  of  continuous 
rainfall,  as  the  thinness  of  the  Earth's  crust  would  allow  the  heat 
from  the  interior  to  keep  the  waters  in  a  constant  state  of  evapo- 
ration, causing  the  mists  to  rise  and  condense  into  rain  in  a  con- 
tinual downpour  lasting  for  centuries :  The  Earth  would  be  to- 
tally enveloped  in  a  dense  mist  through  which  the  light  of  the 
Sun  could  not  penetrate,  and  a  worse  than  tropical  condition 
would  exist  from  Pole  to  Pole.  No  mountains  would  have  yet 
been  formed  to  any  considerable  height,  and  so  far  as  the  surface 
of  the  land  was  concerned,  "the  Earth  would  be  without  form 
and  void,  and  darkness  would  be  upon  the  face  of  the  deep." 

Gradually,  as  the  crust  thickens,  and  the  heat  from  within 
diminishes,  and  the  heat  from  the  Sun  increases,  the  mists  would 
at  last  clear  away,  and  the  sunlight  break  through,  and  the  first 
beautiful  rainbow  would  appear. 

There  is  only  one  thing  that  could  happen  now  to  produce  a 
condition  on  the  Earth  like  a  Glacial  Period,  and  that  is  the  shut- 
ting off  of  the  light  ancT  heat  from  the  Sun.  The  breaking  up 
of  the  Planet  nearest  the  Sun,  either  by  collision  with  a  Comet, 
or  from  any  other  cause,  would  shut  off  enough  of  the  Sun's  light, 
to  produce  just  such  an  effect,  and  search  Science  as  you  may  for 
any  other  cause,  you  cannot  find  it. 

Just  how  many  Glacial  Periods  the  Earth  has  passed  through 
since  its  crust  began  to  cool,  depends  upon  the  number  of  times 
that  the  light  of  the  Sun  has  been  so  shut  off.  And  what  would 
follow  as  a  natural  result  of  a  Glacial  Period? 

The  waters  would  rapidly  evaporate  and  fall  in  snow,  the 
heaviest  fall  at  the  Poles  as  they  do  now,  and  the  pressure  would 
be  taken  off  the  Equator,  which  would  cause  mountain  ranges 
to  be  thrown  up  running  East  and  West,  as  the  first  result  of  the 
uneven  pressure. 

The  passing  away  of  the  Glacial  epoch,  and  the  melting  away 
of  the  Northern  snows,  and  their  waters  flowing  back  to  the 
Equator  and  forming  in  great  Oceans  there,  would  reverse  the 
pressure  conditions,  sinking  the  East  and  West  mountain  ranges, 
and  throwing  up  new  and  higher  ranges  running  North  and 
South.  This  theorv  is  substantiated  by  the  fact  that  the  Ocean- 


beds  are  known  to  be  full  of  mountains,  gorges  and  petrified 
forests. 

Since  a  Planet  can  only  be  expected  to  support  mountains  the 
weight  of  which  corresponds  with  the  thickness  of  its  crust,  it 
stands  to  reason,  that  another  Glacial  Period  on  the  Earth  would 
raise  mountains  many  times  higher  than  those  of  to-day,  as  the 
crust  of  the  Earth  would  be  vastly  thicker. 

The  fact  that  Venus,  which  is  the  next  Planet  between  the 
Earth  and  the  Sun,  has  mountains  thirty  miles  high,  while  the 
mountains  of  the  Earth  do  not  exceed  five  miles  in  height,  proves 
that  Venus  has  felt  the  effects  of  the  same  Glacial  Period  which 
caused  the  mountains  of  the  Earth  to  be  raised. 

The  oceans  of  Venus  had  evidently  not  been  dried  up,  and  she 
may  have  been  enjoying  a  high  state  of  civilization  when  the 
Glacial  Period  came  upon  her.  Being  about  thirty-two  million 
miles  nearer  the  Sun  than  the  Earth,  and  getting  about  five  times 
the  heat,  her  Glacial  Period  would  pass  away  much  more  rapidly ; 
her  crust  would  naturally  be  six  times  as  thick  as  the  crust  of 
the  Earth,  therefore  her  mountains  were  raised  six  times  as 
high. 

It  is  not  likely  that  she  ever  regained  much  of'  her  former 
civilization,  as  her  nearness  to  the  Sun  would  cause  her  waters 
to  be  rapidly  dried  up,  her  soil  parched  and  impoverished,  and 
her  atmosphere  destroyed. 

And  what  shall  we  say  of  Mercury?  He  has  long  been  con- 
sidered one  of  the  hardest  Planets  to  study,  as  his  close  prox- 
imity to  the  Sun  makes  it  impossible  to  see  anything  of  him  ex- 
cept the  side  that  is  in  his  shadow. 

Mercury  is  only  about  thirty-six  million  miles  from  the  Sun, 
and  receives  about  twelve  times  the  heat  that  the  Earth  does. 

He  was  not  much  affected  by  the  last  Glacial  Period,  as  his 
waters  were  all  dried  up,  and  having  passed  through  so  many, 
he  was  getting  used  to  them,  so  to  speak.  In  the  language  of 
the  world,  "He  will  be  the  next  man  to  the  bat,"  and  when  he 
makes  connection  with  any  of  the  Comets  that  are  continually 
swinging  around  the  Sun  in  his  vicinity,  there  will  be  a  repeti- 
tion of  what  has  happened  many  times  before. 

There  is  a  probability  that  a  small  per  cent  of  the  human  race 
might  survive  another  Glacial  Period,  as  the  Earth's  nearer 
proximity  to  the  Sun  would  render  it  less  severe,  and  its  effects 
would  be  sooner  to  pass  away. 

Neither  Mercury  nor  Venus  has  any  moon,  and  the  supposi- 
tion is,  that  their  last  remaining  moon  has  long  since  been  pre- 
cipitated and  united  with  the  main  body  of  the  Planet. 

By  following  the  same  rules  of  reasoning  that  have  charac- 
terized the  falling  of  our  other  Moons,  it  would  seem  that  our 
own  Moon  must  yet  fall  to  the  Earth  before  we  reach  the 
position  where  Venus  now  is ;  this  conclusion,  however,  may  not 
necessarilv  be  true. 


As  the  Earth  shortens  its  orbit  and  approaches  nearer  the  Sun, 
it  must  gradually  lose  its  power  of  attraction,  to  the  larger  and 
stronger  center  of  gravity,  the  Sun :  otherwise,  the  Earth  could 
never  have  cooled  sufficiently  to  have  formed  a  crust. 

As  we  near  the  Sun,  the  affections  of  our  Moon  may  be  alien- 
ated away  from  Mother  Earth  by  the  stronger  power,  and  little 
by  little,  it  may  be  enticed  farther  and  farther  away,  until  at 
last,  like  the  moth  to  the  candle,  it  will  speed  away  towards  the 
brighter  and  stronger  attraction.  It  is  thus,  that  the  EaTtlf  may 
yet  be  spared  the  ordeal  of  another  Moon-shower. 

It  may  have  been  one  of  these  stray  Moons  of  Mercury  or 
Venus,  that  was  sighted  several  years  ago,  when  it  was  thought 
that  another  Planet  had  been  discovered  between  Mercury  and 
the  Sun :  This  imaginary  Planet  was  named  Vulcan  by  its  dis- 
coverer, and  for  a  time  it  caused  considerable  excitement  in 
Astronomical  circles,  but  it  has  long  since  been  determined  that 
no  full-sized  Planet  exists  in  the  zone  that  lies  between  Mercury 
and  the  Sun. 

The  Comet. 

Having  analyzed  our  Planetary  System,  let  us  now  proceed 
to  the  question  of  Comets.  Knowing  as  we  do  that  they  exist, 
it  must  follow  that  they  have  an  origin,  and  are  a  natural  product 
of  Creation. 

Their  great  speed  in  their  fall  toward  the  Sun,  would  indicate 
great  weight,  and  it  would  be  a  logical  conclusion  to  presume 
that  they  were  caught  first  in  the  influence  of  the  Sun's  attrac- 
tion, while  in  a  molten  or  solid  con'dition ;  otherwise,  they  would 
fall  in  orbits  in  the  same  way  that  the  Planets  do.  They  do  not 
appear  to  be  the  product  of  our  own  Solar  System,  but  have 
strayed  within  the  Sun's  attraction  from  regions  unknown.  Once 
caught,  however,  by  the  Sun's  influence,  they  can  never  get  away, 
as  they  can  never  return  as  far,  going  from  the  Sun,  as  they 
were  when  they  first  started  to  fall :  They  must,  therefore,  con- 
tinue to  shorten  each  trip  to  and  from  the  Sun,  until  they  are 
finally  caught  up  by  the  Sun,  or  collide  with  some  Planet;  in 
which  case,  both  would  naturally  be  reduced  to  fragments,  and 
scattered  through  space  for  millions  of  miles. 

When  a  Comet  comes  in  sight,  we  have  the  first  visible  evi- 
dence of  the  battle  that  is  ever  going  on  between  gravitation 
and  radiation. 

Note  the  course  of  the  Comet  in  the  Chart,  and  observe  that 
the  tail  is  always  pointing  straight  away  from  the  Sun,  both 
in  coming  and  going. 

If  the  tail  was  any  part  of  the  Comet,  it  would  be  following 
behind  it,  the  same  as  the  tail  of  any  moving  object.  This  phe- 
nomena shows  plainly,  that  it  is  the  radiation  from  the  Sun,  that 
produces  the  Comet's  tail,  and  if  it  were  not  for  this  force  of 
radiation,  the  Comet  would  never  fall  but  once,  for  it  would 


plunge  unhindered  into  the  Sun,  and  a  baptism  of  fire  would 
result,  that  would  kill  all  Life  on  every  Planet,  as  far  out  as 
Mars. 

It  is  this  force  of  radiation  that  causes  the  Comet  to  swing 
around  the  Sun,  and  shoot  back  into  space  from  the  same  velocity 
that  it  gained  in  its  fall. 

If  the  Earth  should  happen  to  be  in  a  position  where  we  could 
see  the  Comet  as  it  is  making  its  swing  around  the  Sun,  we 
would  see  the  outer  end  of  the  tail  lag  back  a  little,  giving  it 
the  appearance  of  a  flaming  sword.  This  same  tail-like  effect 
could  be  seen  from  the  closer  Planets,  if  they  were  heated  bodies, 
as  the  Comet  is. 

It  is  this  same  force  of  radiation,  that  keeps  the  Planets  from 
falling  precipitately  into  the  Sun.  In  fact,  if  it  were  not  for  this 
fierce  battle  always  existing  between  the  forces  of  radiation  and 
gravitation,  a  perfect-working,  ever-changing,  never-ending  Uni- 
verse would  be  impossible. 

ALVA  L.  REYNOLDS. 


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